Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies

Does anybody else have the same? Cooking and baking is relaxing, no doubt! But sometimes it can also make me reflective and I may even get an epiphany (or at least I think so haha)!

In the last few weeks I’ve had similar conversations with different people. Maybe it’s the place we are living at, thriving, up and coming Istanbul. Maybe it’s the time that we are in, moving away from big corporation towards smaller innovative working groups and projects. Maybe it’s the law of attraction. Either way!

Corporate colleagues, the Mr. at home, good friends. The dilemma? Craving passion, life, challenge, adventure and growth. What’s the right path towards it, or maybe even are we just being ridiculous and should be lucky to be where we are right now? Enjoy stability and accept the situation and just get on with things.

Life is about balance, isn’t it. You want to be responsible and plan ahead. On the other hand, you want to stay agile, push yourself out of your comfort zone and grow. Where is the right line, which action will lead you down the right path? I don’t have the golden answer to it, but I like to think that I have taken some risks and been bold in my life so far. Otherwise I wouldn’t be where I am right now, which btw I think is a pretty good place to be. I left the country I grew up in 10 years ago and since then I’ve been living in 3 different cities in the UK (amongst them Edinburgh and London), spend a few good years in the US and now I am in Istanbul. During that time I have moved houses about 12 times, I have worked in a hotel, in the regional offices, in the headquarters, I am now on my 6th job. I have doubted my choices, considered moving to Australia or even moving back to Germany. I have made decisions, I have been proud of myself, have felt lonely and made amazing friends.

I have learned two things along the way.

Number 1: Nothing is forever. There is no need to be stuck in a place, in a job, in a situation that you will hate. You may be in an undesirable situation. But then you move. Who says you need to stay there? You can always pack up your things, move forward or go back to where you were before. On the other hand, when you’re in a really good place ready to conquer the world, this may not stay like this forever, either. Life is all change.

Number 2: The worst is to regret NOT doing something. If you don’t take risks, you will end up staying where you are. You will have no learnings, you will not grow and you will always ask yourself the question “what if…?”. Now, how much of a risk you’ll take depends on you. I’m more of a calculated risk taker, personally. Something I am working on. There is proverb that I’m sure you’ve heard before: “If you keep thinking about your next step you’ll end up living your life on one leg.”

Now does this mean you should follow every idea and move houses every few months? Probably not. But the sense of this is that sometimes we should follow and trust our heart to what it desires. For some people that means following their wanderlust. For others it means pursuing a long standing dream. And our desires will change as we grow with our experience. Because in the end I think that’s what I think it’s about. Making experiences and memories, leading a full life. Full of laughter, failure, trials, risks, friends, good energy. That’s nothing you want to end up regretting not doing.

So with all these heavy thoughts said, time for something light and enjoyable! A few days ago, I made these lovely and light lemon cookies and they are so easy and simple to make with only a handful of ingredients, yet full of taste! Definitely a good little treat to have a cup of tea with and contemplate and be happy about life!

Method:
1. Mix butter, honey, lemon juice thyme and lemon peel in a large bowl. This will get really chewy with the honey.
2. Once well mixed, add the rice flour to create a good cookie dough. The dough will still stick a bit on the side of your bowl.
3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 cm. Cut out cookie shapes of your choice and put on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake in the oven at about 210 degrees celsius. They shouldn’t need longer than about 7 minutes.

5. While the cookies are baking, combine icing sugar and lemon sugar for the icing.
6. Once the cookies are baked and cooled down ice the cookies with the mix – you can either do the whole cookie or just half. I iced half of the cookie for most to make it less sugar-heavy.
7. While the icing is still wet, add the thyme sprig for decoration.
8. Let cool completely before packing them in a tin or little bags.